Grand County companies whose owners signed a letter to President Obama supporting federal protection for 1.4 million acres surrounding Canyonlands National Park are facing an economic boycott that some say has been spurred by the locally-based Sagebrush Coalition.

The coalitions Facebook page includes a list of local and national companies that signed the Nov. 13 letter from the Outdoor Industry Association urging Obama to create the Greater Canyonlands National Monument.

...

Sagebrush Coalition president James Tibbetts ... opposes monument status for land around Canyonlands National Park because it isnt necessary.

Weve used it all these years and we havent ruined anything, he said.

Tibbetts also objects to Obama possibly using the Antiquities Act for the designation, saying, It bypasses Congress, the people, everybody.

Sagebrush Coalition members are circulating petitions among people who want to block national monument status. Tibbetts said the petitions will be given to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert; U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources; U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch; and others.

...

a push by Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance to get more protection for the Canyonlands area.

The effort by SUWA has been going on since March 2011, when SUWA joined with the Sierra Club and many other groups asking the Secretary of the Interior to bar off-road vehicle use on 1,050 miles of ORV routes in sensitive habitat, streams, wetlands, riparian areas, archaeological sites and other vulnerable areas

We certainly hope we don’t have another Bill Clinton approach to creating a monument,” said Utah Governor Gary Herbert in a statement issued by his top aides.

President Clinton created the 1.9 million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Kane and Garfield counties in 1996 by using his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906. The Antiquities Act gives the president authority by executive order to restrict the use of public land owned by the federal government.

Jeremy McElhaney said President Clinton hurt Utahs economy by preventing mining within the national monument.

The Kaiparowits Plateau in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has clean coal. Now it is gone forever. It would have provided 2,000 jobs for 200 years, McElhaney said.

McElhaney said he felt the national monument proposal was a response to House Bill 148, which demands the federal government make good on the promises made in the 1894 Enabling Act to extinguish title to federal lands in Utah.

Nearly 70 percent of the land in Utah is owned by the federal government.

The bill was signed in March by the governor, giving the federal government until 2014 to relinquish control over nearly 47,000 square miles of land in Utah  national forests, federal range lands, national recreation areas and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

After the government goes over its fiscal cliff, and after the TEAparty, or someone with a clue, attains power, they can close the EPA and other unConstitutional departments, sue the Sierra Club, and sell off all the improperly held “federal lands” to domestic developers.

So much in debt and still locking up valuable natural resources! Such dangerous waste.

While enclave Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 8, clause 17 authorizes Congress to purchase, own and control land within the boundary of a state, the legislature of that State must give its permission. At present, this is routinely given. Maybe it is time for State legislates to stop granting blanket approval and require the federal government to apply for and justify every parcel, and to pay a hefty application fee, and endure a delay that is tuned to the delays the State experiences at the hands of federal bureaucracies for the federal permits that it must seek.

They should not allow the federal government to purchase land, only lease it for 10 years at a time with renewal options at the grace of the state (with the standard “trust me” clause that the feds use). Sort of like the renewal deal with the oyster farm.

18
posted on 12/09/2012 4:13:12 PM PST
by RetiredTexasVet
(The law of unintended consequences is an unforgiving and vindictive b!tch!)

The effort by SUWA has been going on since March 2011, when SUWA joined with the Sierra Club and many other groups asking the Secretary of the Interior to bar off-road vehicle use on 1,050 miles of ORV routes in sensitive habitat, streams, wetlands, riparian areas, archaeological sites and other vulnerable areas

Yet elsewhere, how many acres are being shaded out with solar panels?

23
posted on 12/12/2012 9:47:33 AM PST
by Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)

Maybe it is time for State legislates to stop granting blanket approval and require the federal government to apply for and justify every parcel, and to pay a hefty application fee, and endure a delay that is tuned to the delays the State experiences at the hands of federal bureaucracies for the federal permits that it must seek.

Don't leave out the EIS (Economic Impact Statement).

25
posted on 12/12/2012 9:57:41 AM PST
by Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.